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++Good Games provides games publishing, indie developer consulting, agency design/marketing/PR/event services and more. In short, we establish the dialogue that spreads the word about you and the games you make (and love).

Hot on the heels of our 50th episode (and boy is this one a doosey!) Neal, Anthony, and James have the distinguished honor of interviewing Mr. Trip Hawkins, in this Bonus Round edition of the ++Good Games podcast.

In this episode we discuss topics such as the Kickstarter darling: OUYA, the decline of console gaming, classic EA titles like M.U.L.E., Archon and Seven Cities of Gold, and carry on a conversation surrounding the tablet computing explosion. As always, Trip has a wealth of predictions for the future and load of opinions to share that make this interview nothing short of exciting, informative, and full of insight. This ++episode is truly not to be missed.

As always, you can download our show via any of the links in the sidebar. Our show is available on iTunes or listen to it right in your browser (or mobile device) on Stitcher and Mevio. The ++Good Games podcast is also available on the Zune Marketplace.

A Little About Trip:

Trip has been a new media pioneer for 30 years. Early in his career, Trip played a key role in defining the personal computer at Apple. He went on to found Electronic Arts and built the company into the industry leader. Trip also founded 3DO, a pioneer in digital video, network gaming, and social communities. Trip introduced the use of celebrities and athletes in video games, and his design credits include award-winning best-sellers such as John Madden Football, Army Men, M.U.L.E., Doctor J and Larry Bird Go One on One, and High Heat Baseball. Trip received an MBA from Stanford University and developed his own major at Harvard University, where he graduated magna cum laude with a degree in Strategy and Applied Game Theory. He was also the first business executive to be inducted into the Hall of Fame by the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences. He’s a mover and shaker among the movers and shakers.

I would like to announce two milestones. First, I am transitioning now into a consulting and advisory relationship with Digital Chocolate. For its next stage of growth, Digital Chocolate is narrowing its focus and it made sense to get more streamlined.

Second, on Monday, May 28, 2012 it will be the 30th anniversary of the day that I formally incorporated and founded Electronic Arts. I’ve enjoyed a fascinating career. I joined Apple back in 1978 when we only had about 25 office workers and had only sold the first 1,000 Apples (none of which yet had disc drives, printers, monitors or any software apps). I helped grow Apple in four years to 4,000 employees and worked closely with Steve Jobs and others to define the PC even as we know it today. Then 12 years at EA, 12 at 3DO and now another 8 at Digital Chocolate.

I’ve always had a mission and purpose in my career and I’ve always cared about helping game developers to prosper so that they can make better games for the public. And I’ve worked towards making everyone in the world a gamer – a vision that is indeed on its way to reality. I’ve had the highs and lows and mixed results, but the journey has been extraordinary.

I will remain involved in digital media and games and be available for opportunities including mentoring, consulting, teaching, speaking and writing. I can be reached via www.triphawkins.com or at triphawkins27@gmail.com.

I would like to thank everyone that has made this blog possible. Happy Gaming!

Regards,

Trip Hawkins

Seeing Further, Since 1982

The following text is from an Electronic Arts advertisement that ran over thirty years ago (May 1982) that featured EA’s original mission and an image of some of the greatest minds from the dawn of video games.

“Can a Computer Make You Cry?”

“Right now, no one knows. This is partly because many would consider the very idea frivolous. But it’s also because whoever successfully answers this question must first have answered several others.

Why do we cry? Why do we laugh, or love, or smile? What are the touchstones of our emotions?

Until now, the people who asked such questions tended not to be the same people who ran software companies. Instead, they were writers, filmmakers, painters, musicians. They were, in the traditional sense, artists.

We’re about to change that tradition. The name of our company is Electronic Arts.

Software worthy of the minds that use it.

We are a new association of electronic artists united by a common goal—to fulfill the enormous potential of the personal computer.

In the short term, this means transcending its present use as a facilitator of unimaginative tasks and a medium for blasting aliens. In the long term, however, we can expect a great deal more.

These are wondrous machines we have created, and in them can be seen a bit of their makers. It is as if we had invested them with the image of our minds. And through them, we are learning more and more about ourselves.

We learn, for instance, that we are more entertained by the involvement of our imaginations than by passive viewing and listening. We learn that we are better taught by experiences than by memorization. And we learn that the traditional distinctions—the ones that are made between art and entertainment and education—don’t always apply.

Towards a language of dreams.

In short, we are finding that the computer can be more than just a processor of data.

It is a communications medium: an interactive tool that can bring people’s thoughts and feelings closer together, perhaps closer than ever before. And while fifty years from now, its creation may seem no more important than the advent of motion pictures or television, there is a chance it will mean something more.[5]

Something along the lines of a universal language of ideas and emotions. Something like a smile.

The first publications of Electronic Arts are now available.[6] We suspect you’ll be hearing a lot about them. Some of them are games like you’ve never seen before, that get more out of your computer than other games ever have. Others are harder to categorize—and we like that.

Watch us.

We’re providing a special environment for talented, independent software artists. It’s a supportive environment, in which big ideas are given room to grow. And some of America’s most respected software artists are beginning to take notice.

We think our current work reflects this very special commitment. And though we are few in number today and apart from the mainstream of the mass software marketplace, we are confident that both time and vision are on our side.

++Good Games is a group of longtime gamers that specialize in the video game industry. We provide games publishing, indie developer consulting, agency services, marketing/PR/podcasts/events and more. In short, we establish the dialogue that spreads the word about you and the games you make (and love).